She asked me what I wanted.
"What you really want," she said,
"if you’re being honest."
So I thought
and I pondered
and I wondered if I’d ever been honest with this girl
or any girl
or anybody ever
in my life.

And then further,
I asked myself:
"What do I want?
If everything was available
what then?"
If all needs were met
all wants satisfied,
I asked myself again,
"What then?"

And I wondered and I thought
and I pondered and posed paradigms,
diagrams and graphs to myself,
and finally, I answered,
to the best of my ability:
"I would like
a peanut butter pie."

Silence ensured
for what felt like hours
but was probably less.
"A piece of pie," she said.
"No sex acts.
No statements of love.
No gestures for the good of humanity?

"I do not know,"
she said,
"If I care to continue our conversations."
And she left
and I wept
not just for her
but that she didn’t understand the difference
between a slice
and whole damn pie.